Buena Exacts Revenge, Beats Ventura, 54-44

The Buena High girls’ basketball team gets a bit defensive when it loses to anyone, especially cross-town rival Ventura. So after losing a game on its home court last month to the Cougars, Buena took it out on host Ventura on the defensive end of the floor Thursday night for a 54-44 win in a Channel League game.

Offensively, Buena (9-1, 3-0 in league play) was led by 6-foot-3 starting center April Buck with 16 points and key bench performances from center Rachel McSorley and forward Amber Seward. But when things got tight in the second half, it was the defense that made the difference.

Ventura (9-2, 2-1), which beat Buena in the final of the Buena tournament, trailed by as many as 14 points in the first half.

But guard Wendy Ward sparked a third-quarter run with her drives to the basket and forward Denise Rea made a pair of three-point shots to pull the Cougars to within 38-31, in the fourth period.

Ventura freshman guard Ember Brown scored on a drive, was fouled and added a free throw to make the score 42-36 with 3 minutes 9 seconds to play. But that was as close as the Cougars got.

Buena’s tenacious defense forced Ventura into a 30-second violation on its next possession, negating a three-point basket by Brown, who shot the ball one second too late. A steal and a traveling violation ended the Cougars’ next two offensive efforts.

“We just knew we had to get after it,” Buck said. “Our defense has been improving. Our team is really coming together.”

One of the biggest improvements has been the play of Buck, a junior, in the middle.

“She’s obviously getting better,” Buena Coach Joe Vaughan said. “And she is going to be a much better player than she is now.”

Buck scored eight points in the first half as Buena bounced to a 24-10 lead. But Rea, who had a game-high 17 points, hit a pair of free throws and a three-point shot in the final 43 seconds of the second period to make the score 24-15 at the intermission.

But with the consistent Buck leading the charge in the second half with eight more points, the Bulldogs had little to worry about.

Seward came off the bench and in action spanning both halves hit four consecutive shots for eight points, and McSorley spelled Buck with six points. Michelle Giordano added 10 for Buena.

Ward complemented Rea with 14 points, eight coming in a three-minute spurt in the third quarter.

It was the second consecutive win for Buena over Ventura after the Cougars ended the Bulldogs’ 44-game Buena tournament winning streak Dec. 15.

Buena gained a measure of revenge by defeating Ventura in the final of the Simi Valley tournament, but beating the Cougars in league play is even more special, Vaughan said.

“Winning this game was big, but there are a lot of big games left,” he said.